Cut after cut has left a disabled woman with nothing to live on | Frances Ryan

Bessie has been hit by a succession of cruel blows by the DWP. She even ended up pawning her inherited jewellery just to eat and stay warm

When a UN inquiry ruled last week that Britain's austerity policies amount to a "systematic violation" of disabled people's rights, it was talking about people like Bessie.

Bessie, 51, has agoraphobia, Asperger's and complex mental health problems, and for the last three-and-a-half years she's lived the reality of Conservative cuts. First came the bedroom tax, taking with it 12 a week. Then she was told her lifetime disability benefit would be scrapped. And now, as the latest cruel blow, Bessie - who's received out-of-work sickness benefits since 2012 - has been declared "fit for work". "You get over one thing and then another hits," she says quietly. "It's horrendous."

Related: UK austerity policies 'amount to violations of disabled people's rights'

You get over one thing and then another hits. It's horrendous.